Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Old Friends, New Year

I'm back!

I started the year by attending a friend's wedding.  Will Scruggs played in the band (Kingsized) at the reception.  Yay!  I've known Will since he was still in college at Emory, and he sounds better than ever.  Will has done really well at creating his own gigs and finding his own "thing."  Very cool!  He's also a really nice, dependable guy.  You can see what he's up to by checking out his website.  Yay Will!

Will Scruggs!

My family took a week long trip to Disney World during the first week of the year.  Along the way, we had a little time to take the David Freeman:  This is Your Life! tour, visiting all my old schools, homes, ex-girlfriend's homes, and hangouts in Orlando.  It looks just the way I left it twenty years ago.  Has it really been twenty years since I graduated from high school?

my old house

my old school

Being back gave me a chance to reconnect with a few of the most important people in my life.  First was my old saxophone teacher, Artie Almeida.  She (and her husband John) have been on the music scene forever in Orlando, and they're still playing and teaching a lot.  Amazing people!  I love that they've stayed in central Florida and made the most of their opportunities (she got her doctorate in education and flies around the GLOBE giving seminars about teaching elementary music;  he is now the trumpet professor at UCF).  Aside from my family, they were the most influential people for me as an aspiring musician.


After that, we zoomed by my old neighborhood to check in with the Mr. and Mrs. Dougherty.  They are parents to my best friend in high school, Neil, and they often served as surrogate parents when mine weren't available!  Mrs. Dougherty has been one of my biggest fans FOREVER.  They are wonderful people--I wish they were still a bike ride away.


On Sunday, it was back to work.  Church gig number one…usual stuff.  I got a little solo on one of the songs.

 Even Now (sax) by David B Freeman

I didn't bother bringing my flute to church gig number two--just played soprano through the whole thing.  I think most of the pads in the right hand are ruined from the beer spill a few weeks ago.  Time to go see Bryan Lopes!

davidfreemanmusic.net